Padded wall panels, which are sometimes simply referred to as wall pads, are routinely utilized to cushion hard surfaces which may be encountered by people. Wall pads can be placed over the solid wood and/or concrete walls of a sporting venue. For example, wall pads can be placed over outfield walls in baseball stadiums and over the walls of a gymnasium, e.g., adjacent a basketball goal.
Wall pads are typically constructed of three materials:                1) A backing, which can be made of any rigid material (e.g., oriented strand board (OSB) or other types of waferboard);        2) A thick layer of shock absorbing foam (e.g, polyurethane foam, bonded foam, polychloroprene foam, etc.) padding covering the backing, and        3) A covering (e.g., a vinyl cover) positioned over the foam and secured to the backing.        
In certain circumstances, it is desirable to place a wall pad over a wall including a functional aspect, such as e.g., an electrical outlet, a water fountain or a window opening. In such circumstances, it is also desirable to continue to allow access to the functional aspect after the wall pad is operatively positioned over the wall. Because the size, shape and location of the functional aspect cannot always be predetermined, prefabricated wall panel openings accommodating these situations cannot easily be manufactured.